Blog

South Dakota v. Wayfair One Year Later Webinar Questions Answered

Thank you all who joined our webinar on June 27, “South Dakota v. Wayfair One Year Later – Sales Tax Retrospective and Look Ahead,” and submitted the following questions during the Q&A portion. They really put our regulatory analysis team to the test, and we hope you find the responses valuable as you prepare for […]

Read More
What the Tennessee Wine and Spirits Ruling Means for DtC Wine Shipping

Supreme Court Rules Against Tennessee’s Discriminatory Residency Requirements After months of waiting by the beverage alcohol industry, the United States Supreme Court published its ruling in Tennessee Wine & Spirits Retailers Ass’n v. Thomas on June 26, 2019. The 7-2 opinion, written by Justice Samuel Alito, clearly and definitively struck down a rule in Tennessee […]

Read More
IRS Releases New Look W-4 to Mixed Reviews From Businesses

The IRS has released a draft version of the new 2020 Form W-4, Employee’s Withholding Allowance Certificate. It represents the most sweeping changes to this form since the Current Tax Payment Act of 1943 was passed, requiring employers to withhold taxes from employee payroll and remit them to the IRS on their behalf.  The form […]

Read More
Sovos Again Named a Top Workplace Based on Employee Satisfaction

Earlier this week, the Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN) released its annual list of Top Workplaces. The newspaper compiles this list based on employee satisfaction scores for companies across Minnesota. Sovos has once again been named to this list as a national standard setter of leading workplaces because of the actions we take to put employees […]

Read More
Unclaimed Property: If You Lose Your Dog, Is It Still Yours?

Of course it is! A lost dog wandering the streets is fairly easy to identify as lost, and his location doesn’t change your ownership. You know that the lost and found box at the front desk is there to reunite you with something you misplaced, but how do you identify what is ‘abandoned’ or ‘unclaimed’ […]

Read More
“So What?” The Consequences of Improper Reporting

When performing accounting functions, understanding how our actions will affect the company downstream is important. For some functions, the consequences are obvious, but for unclaimed property reporting, consequences of inaccurate reporting can be uncertain at best. Is it really a big deal if you are reporting everything to your company’s state of incorporation instead of […]

Read More
Marketplace Sales Tax Collection Rules and Current State of Affairs

Marketplace sales tax laws are being used by states as an additional means to collect more sales tax revenue from remote sellers on marketplaces like Amazon, eBay, Etsy, and WalMart. These online marketplaces and the rules being introduced to compel marketplace tax compliance have introduced new sales tax collection and remittance questions and complexity. According […]

Read More
Unclaimed Property Penalties

“We have less than $1,000 to submit, we’ll just do it ourselves.” Does this thought process sound familiar? The thought is if it’s a small amount, it doesn’t matter nearly as much. It’s totally understandable for one to think along these lines. Unfortunately, the states may disagree with you. Regardless of the dollar amount or […]

Read More
IRS Promises Clarity on Crypto Tax Regulations This Month

For the second time in the last month, the IRS has alluded to forthcoming guidance related to cryptocurrency and digital asset transactions.  IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig said in late May that clarification on crypto tax regulations might arrive by the end of June and gave further hints as to what might be included in the […]

Read More
A More Efficient Escheatment Process for Unclaimed Property

Companies are always looking for simplified ways of handling the entire unclaimed property process. As an example, generating reports to be remitted to the state(s) has come a long way in the software vendor world. Electronic reporting can minimize or eliminate manual efforts such as downloading state files to CD’s, printing coversheets, and mailing individual […]

Read More
Unclaimed Property: Are State Exemptions “Free Money?”

Many people hear about state exemptions for unclaimed property reporting, and they get very excited. Free money, what could go wrong? I will share what I know about exemptions and let you decide. Let’s start with a simple kind of exemption. Some states exempt reporting of gift cards or gift certificates that do not have […]

Read More
What Does Delaware’s Unclaimed Property Compliance Review Mean for You?

Part of a 2017 amendment to Delaware’s unclaimed property law has left many people confused. According to Del. Code Ann. tit. 12, § 1170(b), if the state feels that a report is inaccurate or incomplete the company may be selected for a compliance review. There is not a clear definition to which the policy applies in […]

Read More
What the Sovos Acquisition of ETM Will Mean for Insurers, Financial Institutions

It’s been quite a week at Sovos. Hours after announcing Sovos’ intent to acquire Foriba, expanding our geographic footprint into Turkey and bringing together the pioneers of e-invoicing compliance, we shared our plan to expand into new and existing markets in the U.S. with the acquisition of Eagle Technology Management (ETM). Eagle Technology Management (ETM) […]

Read More
TIGTA Audit Highlights Gaps in IRS Withholding Controls

The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) reported results of a recent audit of the IRS internal controls in place to ensure that the withholding reported on information returns (i.e., Forms 1099) is accurately reflected on Form 945, Annual Return of Withheld Federal Income Tax, and that those amounts were paid to the IRS. […]

Read More
Cryptocurrency Taxes: IRS Responds to Pressure from Congress

After four separate letters from members of Congress urging the agency to release clarification on cryptocurrency taxes, IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig finally responded to Representative Tom Emmer, R-Minn., on May 16, with confirmation that clarification is forthcoming. While Rettig’s letter did provide some specifics on what the guidance would cover, it did not include a […]

Read More
How to Prepare for 1099 Reporting Changes to Come in the Gig Economy

There has been a lot of attention paid to “gig” economy workers lately, and that includes some scrutiny by state and federal tax authorities. The growing impact to tax revenue as a result of under-reporting of income and minimal payments of self-employment taxes from this ‘new’ sector of American workers has not gone unnoticed. Academic […]

Read More
Best Practices for Coping with the IRS Crackdown on 1099 Backup Withholding

Background Generally, under Internal Revenue Code 3406(a)(1)(A), when a payer of US source income fails to collect a US tax identification number (TIN) in the manner required for the type of payment being made, 24 percent backup withholding is applicable at time of payment. Filers are required to remit those amounts to the IRS and […]

Read More
Shielding SAP Central Finance Migrations from Tax Compliance Mandates

With more companies focusing on global integration, cross-border supply chains and expanding ecommerce, governments across the globe are introducing new ways to enforce tax rules and close their tax gaps. The evolving global regulatory environment produces unique tax determination and reporting challenges in the United States and additional VAT and e-invoicing compliance challenges around the […]

Read More